The John Rylands Library, Manchester. Picture by Will Pryce for Country Life.
The widow of a successful industrialist turned her inherited fortune towards the creation of one of Britain’s greatest libraries: The John Rylands Library, Manchester. Steven Brindle explains the story of her foundation and admires the library’s architectural splendour, with photographs by Will Pryce.
Deansgate, the long street that runs up the west side of Manchester city centre, follows the line of a Roman road. Today, it is lined with tall commercial buildings interleaved with modern developments.
One tall Gothic building stands out among the temples of commerce: of red sandstone, towered and battlemented, but with traceried windows and octagonal turrets, like a cross between a fortress and a great church.